August 4 , 2007

Haney, G. Jewett claim first victories of season
S. Root and T. Thomas also earn checkers

Marne, MI-- Engine Pro Super Stock driver James Haney was victorious for the first time this season and Garison Jewett of the Instant Cash Advance Sportsman division saw victory lane for the first time in his career at Berlin Raceway. The Coors Light Late Model and De-Jay Slick Truck Pro Stock saw repeat winners in Tom Thomas and Scott Root in a thrilling night of racing.

Engine Pro Super Stock winner #13 James Haney started the 30-lap feature on the pole position and he delivered a dominating performance; Haney took the lead after a 4-lap side-by-side battle with #6 Bob Bliss and never looked back. Caution was out early in this event because of the spinning car of #55 Dave Lake. On the restart, Haney was able to pull away from the field due to a tight battle for second between #77 Andrew Nylaan, #23 Mike Bursley and #1 Brian Wiersma. Bursley was the first to clear Nylaan and he went after Haney, managing to shave time off of his lead every lap. There just wasn’t enough laps left in the feature for Bursley to catch up; Haney won his first race of the season and celebrated with victory doughnuts on the frontstretch. Bursley, Wiersma, Nylaan, #5 Ray VanAllsburg, #15 Pete Ruttan, #15 Mat McClarren, #6 Bob Bliss, #X Ray Clay and #22 Adam Hudson completed the top ten.

The Instant Cash Advance Sportsman division saw drama before the first lap was completed. #59 John Evans got loose on the start, made contact with #15 Garison Jewett, hit the frontstretch wall and barrel-rolled two and a half times before coming to rest on his roof in turn 1. This wreck also collected #8 Sadie Klein, #38 Maurice Davis, #44 Brian Van Zalen, #48 Brandon Wright and #20J George Munniksma, all had spun to avoid Evans’ car. A complete restart was called for the 30-lap feature and #40 Dave Cutler edged out outside pole sitter #00 Dennis Mann for the lead. Behind the leaders, #97 Andy Stormzand, #57 Allan Troup, Jewett and #22 Ken Roelofs had a heated battle for 3rd place; Stormzand and Jewett were able to get by. Lap 10 saw Jewettt pass Stormzand for second and being to reel in Cutler. Caution was out again on lap 14 when point leader Stormzand hit the turn 3 wall, taking him out of contention for the win. On the restart, Jewett was stalking Cutler for six laps before making the pass on lap 21 and winning by 2.325 seconds over Cutler. The rest of the top ten were Troup, Roelofs, Mann, #33 Allen Davis, #88 Tony Davis, #44 Brian Van Zalen, #38 Maurice Davis and #48 Brandon Wright.

The Coors Light Late Models took the track next, #33 Dave Stehouwer and #30 Bryan Clay started on the front row. On the start, Stehouwer pulled away from the field and #47 Fred Campbell was on the move early, chasing Stehouwer down by lap 6. Lap 8 saw two cautions in a row, one involving #7 Alan Fricke and the other involving Clay and #1 Randy Sweet. On the restart, Campbell went high on Stehouwer, but crossed over to pass him on the low side for the lead as caution came out. After the restart, there was a good battle for 7th between #27 Billy Shotko, #21 Terry VanHaitsma and #82 Tom Thomas. After VanHaitsma and Thomas cleared Shotko, there was no stopping Thomas’ march to the front, catching leader Campbell in 10 laps. Thomas was right on Campbell’s bumper and after the two made contact and collected themselves, Thomas made the pass on the outside with five laps to go. Thomas got his 5th win of the season and 3rd win in a row. Campbell had to settle for 2nd and the rest of the top ten were #15 Brian Maxim, Stehouwer, #28 Scott Thomas, VanHaitsma, #101 Joe Bush, B. Shotko, #8 Dakota Carlson and #222 Caleb Bisacky.

The De-Jay Slick Truck Pro Stock division wrapped the evening up and cautions dominated the first few laps of their 25-lap race; there were two before the race got started. #7 Kevin DeGood, #76 Ryan Gruppen, #80 Jason Hoogerhyde and #52 Bruce Chase were involved in the first caution while #61 Jack DeJong’s spinning car brought out the second. Pole-sitter #24 Lee VanDyk took the lead once the field got started and seemed to be driving away from the field. #76 Brian Tillema started making strides to catch VanDyk, but he was unable to capitalize on the restarts. The #15 car of Scott Root came from the 6th starting position to challenge Tillema for 2nd. Root got around Tillema on lap 18, caught VanDyk and made a spectacular last lap pass to get his second win of the season. VanDyk, Tillema, DeGood, Chase, #11 Nick Bonstell, Hoogerhyde, #20 Dave Hull, #3 Travis Nylaan and #50 Justin Regnerus were the top ten.

Racing resumes next Saturday, August 11, for WOMS Midgets, Late Model, Super Stock and Pro Stock races presented by Arbor Mortgage. It’s also Trucker Night with Big Rig Races and the Davidson Express Bike show will take place in the afternoon. Tickets are $12 for adults, half price for kids 6 to 12 and free for kids 5 and under. Pit passes for those 16 and over are $25.

###